The Hunger Project’s Executive VP, John Coonrod, has moved from New York City to Washington, DC to strengthen THP’s seat at the table of international development. Each week, John sends us insight into issues of health, policy, human rights and more by way of the Washington Weekly.
G8 Review and New “Must-Reads”
June will be huge for global advocacy: a Child Survival Forum, the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development and Badiul Majumdar in the USA including DC. THP-DC and THP-BD are working in partnership to complete the first draft of our World Bank-funded study of social accountability mechanisms in local governance, and to develop two distinct second stage project documents on local democracy.
The G8
Accountability Report
When a country chairs the G8, they are responsible for publishing a report on how the G8 is keeping its commitments. The 2012 report was released just after the recent G8 meeting ended, and can be read here.
ActionAid described the 2012 report as a “great step forward for G8 transparency” and highlights that the report shows that “while nearly all funds pledged at L’Aquila have been committed, G8 donors have disbursed only 49 percent of funding” and that “the majority of them are failing to target those investments towards women smallholder farmers.”
The New Alliance – What does it mean?
What is this “New Alliance” announced by President Obama at the G8?
Last week was devoted to reflecting on the new G8 commitment to create a “New Alliance” dedicated to mobilizing private sector investment in African agriculture in ways that would lift 50 million people out of poverty. Civil society organizations such as THP will meet in the coming months to discuss our engagement with this new initiative.
New Publications
Chicago Council fellow and former Wall Street Journal writer Roger Thurow has published an engaging and highly recommended new book. Thurman follows the lives of farm families in Western Kenya throughout 2011 as they struggle to overcome hunger. The families’ productivity is greatly enhanced through the One Acre Fund – a social enterprise founded by Andrew Youn, an American son of Korean immigrant parents that now serves 50,000 families. This is the kind of book you will want to give to your friends who have had no real exposure to the realities of life in rural Africa, and the heartbreaking choices families must constantly make between buying food or paying school fees or paying for malaria medications.
- State of the World’s Midwifery 2011 This first-of-a-kind report, supported by 20 partner organizations, came out last year but received a burst of publicity around mother’s day.
- Asian Development Bank Development Effectiveness Review Although the G8 has focused on Africa, there is far more poverty and hunger in Asia, and Brookings hosted the president of the Asian Development Bank, along with a panel, as they issued their annual Development Effectiveness Review.
Upcoming Events
- June 14-15: UNICEF/USAID Child Survival Call to Action Forum
- June 18-19: G20 Summit, Los Cabos
- June 21: Rio+20 Summit
Learn More
- Keep an eye out for Tweets from DC at #THPdc
- Rio+20 Summit, June 20-22
